CD Reviews

Why is it?

Doomsday | Vancouver | 03/23/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"why is it whenever someone plays a guitar with a tremelo bar, people just automatically say "he sounds like Kevin Shields" or "they sound like My Bloody Valentine"? (Did people compare MBV to Link Wray? ) This album sounds nothing like Loveless, or Isn't Anything. To say that it does is just an insult to both bands. The music of the Swirlies and MBV runs much deeper than trivial material comparisons. The Swirlies had, and always will have a unique sound."

Brain candy for the swirling-guitar set

P. Jason Kirk | Tennessee | 12/09/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

""They Spent Their Wild Youthful Days..." lies somewhere between My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless" and the synthesized bliss of Stereolab - lush layers of guitar blend seamlessly with electronic keyboards to weave a soundscape most American bands haven't yet been capable of creating. The vocals are, much like MBV, sometimes nearly incomprehensible, but the sonic sweets are sure to make you forget about deciphering lyrics. Every song on this album is *perfect* - buy it now!"

Unique, Internally Diverse, and it Rocks

Brian B. Carter | San Diego, CA United States | 09/12/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"These songs sound quite different from one another. 'San Cristobal' rocks as much as any metal, some verges on stereolab's french vocal harmonies (if recorded in a wind tunnel), and a few also echo Stereolab's early guitar chords. Sunn begins with some interesting guitar chord overlays reminiscent of Glenn Branca's guitar orchestras (which ye experimental guitarists may have tried in your own bands), but proceeds on into a coherent song with a different sound (not atypical for swirlies). There are shades of Sonic Youth in here as well... rich, complex, diverse.

And you've got to love the album title, whatever it means.

As I said in my review of Blonde-Adder Baton, this band should be famous and fabulously rich."

Gotta Love the Ostrich!

Brian B. Carter | 03/28/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Quirky, Eccentric, Guitar-Blasted, Melodic, American, and Original - these words best describe the Swirlies.

Although good things are said about Blonder Tounge, this CD is better produced - somewhat less noisy and rough, although there are some very driving guitars on a couple of tracks. They put the most time, money and effort into this one, and it shows. The production value is very high - the only lo-fi bits are the "field recordings" that seem to be inside jokes. (After you hear the French guy talking about his cat Gatsby for the 100th time, you might be rolling on the floor, too.) The fold-out artwork is also much more elaborate and fun, in a child-like way. The mostly instrospective lyrics are softly delivered. The complex song structures and unexpected breaks will tickle your brain. Electronics and oohh-ooohh harmonies add a nice warm poppy feel. The opposing elements never fight against each other, but are more smoothly blended than they are on Blonder.The band really made their mark on this one. I implore you to buy this first! NOT ONE BAD SONG ON IT."

Just wild stuff, just really wild.

Luke Rounda | Lawrence, KS | 01/29/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"More delicate records from the shoegaze era are usually graffitied with descriptors like "dreamlike" and "ethereal." "Nowhere" by Ride is a breezy "what if" run-through that tries to approximate what the Beach Boys or the Byrds might sound like underwater. Going on what the star chamber of over fifteen years' worth of critics have said, My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless" is supposed to sound like being in love. If either of those description are accurate, then "They Spent Their Wild Youthful Days in the Glittering World of the Salons" must be like trying hard to remember being in love. Underwater. With a Frenchman.

A brief spin of the dial on a "French Radio" and you can almost hear your brain's remembrance gears start to turn. Clock-tick drumwork and odd, clanking-yet-shimmering guitar chords back up androgynous baby lullaby vocals on the opener "In Harmony Newfound Freedom," which brings to mind Danish space-rockers Mew. Modern day proteges? "In Harmony" sheds light on the stylistic underpinnings of the album and the Swirlies sound. But as the band later point out, you must hear it for yourself. You'd be hard pressed to call "Their Wild Youthful Days" delicate, aggressive, dissonant or musical with much certainty. They're somehow all of the above, at once.

"San Cristobal" comes off like a metal band that couldn't afford the right amps or a guest appearance from the Cookie Monster. Elsewhere, the introductory riff on "Two Girls Kissing" could easily be mistaken for an obscure Fugazi/Evens vamp... that is, until the drenched guitars clobber their way to the front, dragging up flutey, very un-McKaye choirboy vox by the hair with them. Other bits are even weirder. The cutesy "You Can't Be Told It, You Must Behold It" is based on a basso synth voice repeatedly scatting "bee-baa, bee-baa" in true Daft Punk spirit. A bit later, the record takes a more obvious intermission in the form of the found sound street recording "Do Any of You Know Anything About Love?" There's a brief primer on theremins and ring modulators in "Boys, Protect Yourself From Aliens" which is followed up by the coy pendulum-swinging "Sunn," full of distant bleeps and blips and gooey synthesizer portamento during the quiet bits and a pronounced drumbeat in the "a bit louder" bits. It finally starts to really gallop at about 3:50.

But even when these guys "take off," it's using some kind of screwloose engine that probably didn't pass government inspection. While never relying on more traditional pop hooks to wire with guitar pedals (like Ride's "Nowhere"), "Their Wild Youthful Days" feels confusing, and not in the same floaty, rush-of-endorphins, one-hand-on-the-whammy-bar way as "Loveless." My Bloody Valentine's masterpiece was built upon simple melodies and chord progressions that would sound just as brilliant (albeit different) in a folky acoustic arrangement. One can't honestly say the same about a record as dense and complex as "Their Wild Youthful Days."

More Blonde Redhead than Cocteau Twins. More Sonic Youth than Slowdive. If this is dreampop, it's the stuff of dreams fueled by way too much Mexican food before bed. Although maybe it's more LSD than MSG."